Recovering money from limited company

bigbadbren

I’m not sure if this is the correct forum, but I wondered if anyone had any advice for claiming money back from a limited company?

My son was attending a nursery on the edge of Sutton Coldfield and the owner decided to close the nursery with one days notice. We received a rather unprofessional letter from the owner ranting that it was being shut due to OFSTED giving it a grade 4, rather than the previous grade 2.

We had already paid the next months fees and also paid a deposit when signing my son up for the nursery.

We have sent two letters demanding payment to the register company address (sent by special delivery and recorded delivery) and have now initiated court proceedings to obtain the money back. We have done this via the courts online system.

We have heard on the grape vine that the owner of the nursery is looking to sell the property but I have no idea if the property is owned by the company or the individual.

The director also runs another nursery in Knowle ( a village near Solihull) but it is registered as a separate company. This nursery is still open but I suspect the parents have no idea that the owner shut the other business in such an appalling way.

Any advice would be appreciated.


Bren

thenudeone

You've done exactly the right thing.
If you win the case and they don't pay, you'll need to take extra action to seize goods or bank accounts (probably get baliffs involved??).
If your household insurance has legal cover, get them involved. They may cover all the costs, and a letter from a solicitor might be more persuasive than from you.

A limited company is a separate legal entity. If it doesn't have enough assets to pay its liabilities, you'll lose out. You can't go after the directors or owners personally (expect in rare circumstances) or other companies owned by the same owners.

bigbadbren

Thanks for that, we'll see what happens with the legal action.

jonesMUFCforever

Whilst I agree with previous post just remember that even if you win there is no guarantee of getting any money back.
If the limited company is liquidated and there are no assets left then you will not get any money back.

Not wanting to put a dampener on you - but take care as even with small claims online costs will be incurred.
How much are we talking about here?

pmduk

Have you contacted the local press to publicise the way you were treated? Secondly, if any of the payments were made by card then contact the card issuer.

thenudeone

Perhaps you should visit the other nursery that's still running, at about the time parents are dropping off or picking up thier kids, and have a loud discussion with the staff about how to contact the owner about his refusal to refund you for nursery fees paid in advance;)

chanz4

if your taking the to court dont do the above, you can be seen to be causing harrasment